To replant trees, Metro to get land in East Delhi

Delhi Lieutenant-Governor Tejendra Khanna has told Delhi Development Authority (DDA) to make available 32 hectares of land in Garhi Mandu in Trans-Yamuna area to the Delhi forest department so that felling clearance for phase III expansion of Delhi Metro can be obtained.

This land is to be used for compensatory plantation to be done and maintained by the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) in lieu of trees felled or to be felled in Phase 3. The L-G, however, said the selection of trees will be done as per suggestions from tree expert CR Babu and DDA’s landscaping department.

DDA officials met Khanna and officials from the Delhi forest department. In the meeting, they said that 809.7 acres of land had already been transferred to the forest department at Garhi Mandu and the 32 hectares plantation, as demanded by the forest department, can be done there.

DDA officials, however, relented when Khanna asked them to make available the 32-hectare chunk. He said, “After the compensatory plantation by the forest department, the land will be managed by the DDA with technical support from the forest department.”

As%re’s latest estimate, 8,001 trees need to be felled for the phase 3 project and 40,000 hectares of land is needed for compensatory plantation. The Centre had admitted that of the 70 hectares of land provided by the DDA, only 17 hectares is suitable for plantation. Ownership issues also exist.

The DMRC had felled 36,025 trees in phase I and II. It is confident of rolling out all corridors under Phase-III by March 2016, on schedule.